It seems since the "Don't litter" campaigns of the 1970s, litter along the highways had all but disappeared. As I travel, I feel like I am seeing more and more trash in our roadside ditches. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just imagining it?

Maybe it's another third world feature we get to experience.

It's gotten bad here in South Texas the last few years. Until about 5 years ago, you would regularly see the prisoners ,from the local prison, picking up trash along the highways with the tractors shredding after they got done. The highways where I live were pretty dang clean. Now it's considered inhumane to have the prisoners do that and they don't do it around here anymore. Now they just shred the bar ditches and medians, trash and all, and it looks terrible. All the shredded trash gets blown in the wind all over peoples properties. I recently shredded about 500 yards along an FM road at the front of a property. Before shredding, I went through and picked up all of the trash. There was 7 truck beds worth of trash on that small stretch. Unfortunately, there are too many people that don't give a damn about littering.

DamnGood86 said:

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It seems since the "Don't litter" campaigns of the 1970s, litter along the highways had all but disappeared. As I travel, I feel like I am seeing more and more trash in our roadside ditches. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just imagining it?

Maybe it's another third world feature we get to experience.

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A few years ago, my wife and I drove up to Wisconsin for the 100th reunion of the division my grandfather fought with during the Great War. I don't recall where I first noticed it (Arkansas or Missouri) but through two states we did not see a single piece of litter other than a bag of quikrete that had fallen onto a road.

Our RV park has 700 feet of frontage along a state highway and I pick up more trash along that stretch every week than I saw on that entire drive. I did not see but a few convenience stores or fast food joints (nowhere near the number we have in Texas) on the route we drove which probably explains part of it.

I haven't really noticed an increase in trash on the highways I travel, but I've noticed an explosion of it in our government and its bureaucracy.

Take a look at our rivers and streams. Trash everywhere.

I mostly see the 13% throwing trash out while driving

Duh ! Invasions tend to be messy.

People not securing their trash is a big problem. Trash flies out of truck beds as the drive down the road and trash cans on trash day when people don't bag.

It's a South Texas tradition.

DW91AG95 said:

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It's a Texas tradition.

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For a state with so much state pride, folks don't have a lot of pride in keeping it clean.

cevans_40 said:

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No one will say it but it has a lot to do with changing demographics

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Spot on.

cevans_40 said:

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No one will say it but it has a lot to do with changing demographics

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Pretty sure I said it in the first response.

About half of roadside trash blew out of a truck, per studies I have seen. Either unsecured loads or people discarding stuff into truck beds and not necessarily their own, and then the driver scattering it to the winds unknowingly or without care.

Then, the state doesn't want to tax snd spend to keep it picked up. I will agree there has been a demographic/cultural shift to an attitude that doesn't care about littering, and knowing there won't be enforcement.

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and not necessarily their own,

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It really bunches my underoos when I find someone else's trash in the bed of my truck.

cevans_40 said:

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No one will say it but it has a lot to do with changing demographics

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Its the Amish

cevans_40 said:

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No one will say it but it has a lot to do with changing demographics

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People who throw used toilet paper in the trashcan or on the floor are not likely to care about throwing a water bottle or empty Bud Light can out their car window.

Possibly/possibly not germane, but I was in England last week and the amount of trash I saw on the road between Portsmouth and London was staggering. I mentioned it to my Portsmouth friend, who also is an Aggie, and he said he hadn't noticed. I was floored. So I guess it may not be just a Texas or America problem. People are litterers in general.

Weird how my side of town has relatively clean roadways, but that "other" side of town looks like an open dump

DamnGood86 said:

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It seems since the "Don't litter" campaigns of the 1970s, litter along the highways had all but disappeared. As I travel, I feel like I am seeing more and more trash in our roadside ditches. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just imagining it?

Maybe it's another third world feature we get to experience.

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not in the Mid-Atlantic

drove down from Maryland to Hilton Head Island a month ago

no trash anywhere. and some of those were not interstate highway system.

Recently was at a retail shopping center ... as leaving, some tool in a giant pickup truck rolled down their window and threw out trash.

I wished some instant karma hit that loser soon after he/she did that.

******* slob.

Here in Kimble County (Junction) I've seen multiple times the garbage truck with top open and trash cascading back out to the roadside. Lots of wind also the past few weeks and plastic garbage cans blow over. We try and pick up trash in the South Llano River in kayak season. I see signs talking about fines for littering but never heard of it happening.

rgvag11 said:

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People not securing their trash is a big problem. Trash flies out of truck beds as the drive down the road and trash cans on trash day when people don't bag.

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This is my experience. The land across the road from ours was subdivided into small ranchettes. When we have days with strong southwest winds you know when its trash day because our fences and pastures will be littered with plastic grocery bags and other assorted trash that blows out of the cans stacked up at the road or off of the garbage truck.

That and lots of plastic feed sacks that blow out of the beds of pickups racing up and down the county road.

Take a drive between Bastrop to San Marcos on HWY 21 and get back to me…..it's unreal!!

Indian crying billboard

Democrats trash things and then yell at you about the environment and doing your fair share.